Roger Fisher, Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project and author of Getting to Yes, has written for the book jacket that The Global Negotiator "...is the best book I know to help business negotiators expand their skills to meet the needs of negotiating internationally." It is high praise and well deserved.The author, Jeswald W. Salacuse, is the Henry J. Braker Professor of Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Harvard Program on Negotiations. Professor Salacuse has an extensive background in international negotiations. He has participated in negotiations involving persons from over forty countries, spent years living abroad and explored the field of global negotiations through research and teaching involving hundreds of international executives, lawyers and officials.
This is a guidebook about "making, managing, and mending international business transactions" (p.viii). Its aim, Professor Salacuse tells his reader, "...is to equip business executives, students, lawyers and government officials to navigate each of these stages effectively" (p.3).
Unlike most books on the art of negotiating, Professor Salacuse goes far beyond making the deal and gives careful attention to managing and repairing deals once made. It is, therefore, a work with special insight and value for the negotiator. Let us examine some of these insights.
The central issue in global negotiations, Professor Salacuse tells the reader, is about the nature of the deal itself. "Is it a contract or a relationship?" (p. 20).
The answer to this seemingly simple issue should be at the heart of the preparation for any negotiation. Alas, far too often, it is a topic casually addressed by negotiators. Ideally, it should be both a relationship and a contract in most deals.
In fact, however, in American practice the contract often takes the central focus. As unfortunate as this approach may be, its problems are amplified in an international arena in which the goal of a potential partner in a negotiation may be a relationship and the contract is secondary. Neglecting that core difference in expectations may not only destroy the possibility of reaching a deal, but also imperil the success of future fulfillment of any agreement reached by the parties. Without clarity on this matter, any agreement may be founded on the most fatal of flaws: the failure of the parties to have a meeting of the minds.
"A deal is a prediction. A negotiation is always about the future," Professor Salacuse states (p.62). It is a true statement about all deals whether local or global, but particularly significant in the cross-cultural environment.
The wise negotiator recognizes that negotiators are "inherently incapable of predicting all of the events and conditions that may affect their transactions in the future" (p.65). Additionally, due to resource constraints and cultural differences, the understandings and expectations of the parties are rarely capable of being fully captured in the written contract. Given these factors, Salacuse concludes, may be "more realistic to think of the transaction as a continuing negotiation" rather than a deal fixed in time. (pp.185-186).
"Various studies," Professor Salacuse writes, " have found that between 33 percent and 70 percent of international alliances surveyed eventually broke up" (p.194). Given this record, the author approaches international negotiations and agreements as encompassing three distinct, but closely related essential areas: making the deal, managing the deal and mending the deal. His approach is cross-cultural, practical and insightful.
The global negotiator will find a lengthy and thorough guide to preparing and negotiating international agreements. The author takes the reader through such matters as selecting the place for the negotiations to recognizing and managing the many cultural differences that will be encountered and need to be overcome in an international deal. We find advice on handling cultural barriers ranging from concepts of time and differences in styles to the structure of the deal itself.
Additionally, the author examines such critical matters as who's law will apply, dealing with foreign government officials at the table, and the complexities as moving money and sharing risk among the parties. It is a wide-ranging and complete exploration of the field.
Importantly, Professor Salacuse moves from negotiating the deal to examinations of managing and mending international agreements. Treated for clarity as separate sections, these topics are intended as elements to be explored and included in the negotiation of the basic agreement itself. How will the parties manage the relationship is a critical question. There is valuable advice on planning for this process in the second section of his work.
In the last section of his work, the author turns to the third vital area of global negotiations: deal mending and dispute resolution. If we know that disputes and changed circumstances are probable, then prudent negotiators need to include methods of handling these matters in their original agreement.
Professor Salacuse explores three types of renegotiations that are expectable in the life cycle of the deal: post deal, intra deal, extra deal (p.229). He then turns his attention to the need for the parties to plan and incorporate into the deal method for resolving disputes. Here, the author again provides a thorough discussion of the operation, benefits and disadvantages of the international dispute resolution options along a continuum ranging from negotiation through mediation to arbitration and finally to adjudication. It is a valuable review.
Readers will find a rich appendix section, including a top-notch global negotiator's checklist, a detailed primer on international business transactions and an extensive bibliography of suggested further reading.
Truly, as Roger Fisher concluded, "this is the best book" in its field.
My highest recommendation.
John D. Baker, Ph.D.
Editor, The Negotiator Magazine
